An Engen garage in Pretoria has fallen victim to motorists who fill up with fuel and speed off without paying – the latest scammer being the owner of a white Ford Focus that left a R753 bill.
The incident‚ which was caught on CCTV footage‚ took place on Tuesday last week at the garage on the corner of St Bernard and Solomon Mahlangu Drive‚ in Pretoria.
“The car drove in at around 10pm. The driver asked the petrol attendant to fill up. As the attendant was busy‚ he noticed that the number plate of the car was attached to the car by sellotape‚” said Tonie Slabbert‚ a manager at the filling station.
He said the petrol attendant then asked the owner of the vehicle how he was going to pay for the petrol.
“He said he was going to pay using a card‚ but he sped off without paying. Two police cars that were in the vicinity noticed what happened and chased after the car‚ but they could not keep up with the driver. He was driving too fast‚” Slabbert said.
He said it was not first time that a car had sped off without paying for petrol at that filling station.
“We had a similar incident on August 13. The driver asked that his car be filled up. He drove off while the petrol attendant was busy cleaning the back windscreen.”
Slabbert said there was nothing they could do to prevent the incidents from happening.
“The only thing we can do is ask the petrol attendants to be more cautious and maybe ask the motorists to produce their car keys‚ but you can’t ask an old lady for their keys at night.”